Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 511 posts

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#221

Post by drog »

puranjay wrote: post #135
liquidise wrote: post #4

> U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other officials have warned about the use of cryptocurrencies for illicit transactions. Wait until you hear about cash. More seriously (and hopefully less reductionist) i feel nations who embrace cryptocurrencies early will see mixed results as the landscape matures. I am more confident that nations which turn their back on it, or shut it out completely, will see a loss of o…

Crypto maximalists - and I know a LOT of them - are drawn to crypto because of ideology, not just the money. The idea that a person should own his/her own assets, be able to share and use them whenever they want, and be free from government censorship and foolhardy economic stewardship is incredibly powerful. When governments talk about banning crypto, what scares them isn't crypto; it's this ideology. And this ideol…

Why is this post so downvoted? It seems that antigovernment sentiment is not popular here

It’s not only that but also all that “crypto is not technologically interesting and it’s just Ponzi scheme!”.

There are so many interesting and unique things there. You can mix cryptography, finance, etc. into endless amount of protocols.

Here is some interesting ideas in crypto: decentralized stable coin (dai), automatic market makers (uniswap), zero knowledge rollups, dns that you actually own and not rent, p2p prediction markets, automatic borrowing, algorithmic stable coins without peg and so on and so forth.

And there is always something new.

I think blockchain is essential building block of the future free web.(at least stuff like dns)

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#222

Post by tcgv »

CharlesW wrote: post #167
puranjay wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DeFi's main value proposition is the automation of money. NFTs main value proposition is fractional ownership and assertion of ownership rights in a transparent manner. Imagine owning 1% of a Drake song - and getting paid 1% of the royalties every time it plays on Spotify. Or creating a yield earning strategy that automatically moves money around based on fixed paramters without ever interacting with a banker or fund…

> DeFi's main value proposition is the automation of money. That's a potential value proposition of any currency which can be manipulated digitally. Whether it's distributed or not is an implementation detail.

Indeed, but the bar for "automating money" in traditional finance is extremely high due to not only legitimate regulatory reasons but also to large banks and institutions trying to preserve their power/dominance.

In DeFi anyone can automate money. For instance, for the past few months I've been building an experimental options exchange [1] in my free time, which would be impractical on traditional finance.

[1] https://docs.defioptions.org/

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#223

Post by arisAlexis »

knorker wrote: post #207
liquidise wrote: post #4

> U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other officials have warned about the use of cryptocurrencies for illicit transactions. Wait until you hear about cash. More seriously (and hopefully less reductionist) i feel nations who embrace cryptocurrencies early will see mixed results as the landscape matures. I am more confident that nations which turn their back on it, or shut it out completely, will see a loss of o…

Beany babies spawned a lot of successful business, but you absolutely cannot from derive that they were fit for purpose, or in any way useful. You're cargo culting. They're still a solution in search of a problem, backed by tech people who think they understand what they are trying to replace. Once you understand the fence you can tear it down, but cryptonerds really really don't understand law (they think smart cont…

Could you pay federal taxes in beanie babies? I think not

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#224

Post by arcticbull »

bko wrote: post #204
arcticbull wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gold is shiny pebbles people are willing to pay money for. Crypto is spreadsheet cells people are willing to pay money for. Well, some amount of money -- mostly Tether though, which is likely in turn backed by the same crypto lol. It's really an open question just how much new real money is flowing into crypto. It's all pretty clear in the settlement Tether signed [1]. Particular note are #17, #20, #36, #43-46 [1] ht…

I don't know what the point of your comment is. There is a need to have a medium of exchange for trade. Barter has its limitations. For all of history, people have created new forms of money for exchange. The primary characteristics you would need is scarcity, clear ownership, transferability and fungibility. Gold serves this purpose, and Bitcoin even more so. The fact that gold is a shiny pebble is not adding anythi…

Neither gold nor bitcoin are particularly good for the purpose you are suggesting -- that's why gold was replaced with fiat currency. Because fiat currency was better. Bitcoin chasing after gold's position is unfortunate because of course, fiat is better than gold.

The characteristics you need for a medium of exchange are:

- fungibility.

- the ability to hold its value for exactly as long as you need to hold onto it. Any longer than that is a non-goal.

- stability/predictibility.

- the ability to adjust to shocks, and a changing population.

- low cost of transactibility.

Scarcity is a non-goal. Clear ownership is a non-goal except in as much as possession is 9/10th of the law.

Basically none of these apply to gold, and basically none of these apply to bitcoin. That's why nobody uses it as such.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#225

Post by stretchwithme »

heMan09 wrote: post #161
rudderz wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take crypto out of the equation, what are the implications of the fed issuing a programmable currency? Many financial services would become obsolete. What do I need a stock broker for? What do I need a bank for? You have Wall St and other sophisticated investors profiteering and competing against the general public, devaluing our purchasing power, making leveraged trades because they know the public will hold the bag…

Humanity already solved this problem: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax Most white collar crime is obvious and where the bodies are buried is largely known. There’s simply no political will to do anything about it. Crypto becoming mainstream isn’t going to change indifferent minds. Physical reality is a thing. Burying our heads in ephemeral concepts is distraction, not change.

We need to fix how we select our representation.

Winner-take-all elections lead to weak control over who represents your interests. It's like being party to a lawsuit where one attorney represents all parties.

And you can't fire your attorney for four years.

In the single attorney situation, SELECTING the attorney would be the major struggle. And then that attorney has all the power. The parties would then have to lobby the attorney to win the case.

And that's why our elections have become such a struggle and why lobbyists can buy votes.

And that's why Wall street firms can call up their friends and get a multi-billion dollar bailout.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#226

Post by graeme »

cslarson wrote: post #205
kelnos wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whatever your stance on cryptocurrencies are, what is of little dispute is the business opportunities they have created. Binance and Coinbase are large, successful companies. Poloniex was sold for ~400M. I find this argument a little weird, because I think we can all agree that bubbles and fad tech isn't really great for society as a whole. If you believe cryptocurrencies aren't a fad and actually provide useful be…

How can you not see what the importance of this new infrastructure? I come here and read these comments and am just at a loss for words at this point. Forget Bitcoin and look at Ethereum. This tech is so powerful I am in some ways scared of it and you call it a fad. The gulf between our interpretations drops my jaw to the floor :)

Can you name some use cases that aren’t trading crypto derivatives or crypto debt?

Ethereum is certainly more interesting than Bitcoin but the use cases so far seem to be more speculation.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#227

Post by xxpor »

NaturalPhallacy wrote: post #183
notahacker wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are literally jobs in developing countries where farming in game money is a job that pays their bills Do they pay their bills in World of Warcraft Gold or local currency? (That actually illustrates the distinction between tokens that might have value to speculators and currency quite nicely)

It's not speculation though. They literally sell one currency for another. That they have value is a given, or they wouldn't be able to exchange one the other. (notice how it doesn't matter which currency is which in that sentence?) Acceptance defines value. No other factor trumps it.

That's exactly my point. They're mining a commodity, not a currency.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#228

Post by arisAlexis »

Barrin92 wrote: post #218
puranjay wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DeFi has a legitimate use case and NFTs have an astonishing number of use cases. Smart Contracts are an incredible, incredible innovation. We are at the tip of the iceberg and nothing has been more disappointing than seeing the traditional tech world's dismissal of crypto as "get rich schemes". The tech world is surprisingly as complacent now as the legacy dinosaurs it first helped destroy in the 1990s and 2000s.

>NFTs have an astonishing number of use cases NFTs are the equivalent of trading cards or video game lootboxes. They enable a form of conspicuous consumption whereby you conjure up value by slapping a digital signature on something and creating artificial scarcity. From the perspective of the state none of these instruments improve supply chains, enhance military or state capacity, increase productivity or growth. NF…

Art is only one use case. NFTs can represent land ownership, driving licenses etc.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#229

Post by ac29 »

jayd16 wrote: post #159
throwaway6734 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Whatever your stance on cryptocurrencies are, what is of little dispute is the business opportunities they have created. Binance and Coinbase are large, successful companies. What business opportunities have been created outside of the crypto space? > i feel nations who embrace cryptocurrencies early will see mixed results as the landscape matures. They may also leave themselves open to these currencies being manipu…

>What business opportunities have been created outside of the crypto space? They're probably just talking about all the pickaxe selling. NFTs are possibly an answer if you assume good faith and not just speculation.

NFTs are not "outside of the crypto space".

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#230

Post by jdgoesmarching »

knorker wrote: post #207
liquidise wrote: post #4

> U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other officials have warned about the use of cryptocurrencies for illicit transactions. Wait until you hear about cash. More seriously (and hopefully less reductionist) i feel nations who embrace cryptocurrencies early will see mixed results as the landscape matures. I am more confident that nations which turn their back on it, or shut it out completely, will see a loss of o…

Beany babies spawned a lot of successful business, but you absolutely cannot from derive that they were fit for purpose, or in any way useful. You're cargo culting. They're still a solution in search of a problem, backed by tech people who think they understand what they are trying to replace. Once you understand the fence you can tear it down, but cryptonerds really really don't understand law (they think smart cont…

There are few things more annoying than hearing a crypto cultist talk about economics. It’s like a plumber lecturing me about database architecture based on their Excel experience.

Ironically people who actually work as blockchain devs are very chill about it.

Post reply on HN